Four All-Americans Cap 2006-07 Season – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | General, Wrestling
March 27, 2007
COLUMBUS, Ohio – It was a season that concluded with four All-Americans for first-year head coach Tom Ryan and that gave the Buckeyes a Top 10 finish in the 2007 NCAA Championships for the first time since 2004. J Jaggers (141), Lance Palmer (149), Mike Pucillo (184) and J.D. Bergman (197) placed in the Top 8 of their respective weight classes to secure the coveted All-America status. The quartet of wrestling All-Americans is the most for a first-year Ohio State head coach.
The Scarlet and Gray reached as high as eighth-place in the championships. The Buckeyes concluded the event 10th with 54.5 points.
THE MIDAS TOUCH
In addition to the Buckeyes garnering four All-Americans at the 2007 championships, head coach Tom Ryan and assistant Lou Rosselli also witnessed recruits from their former schools of Hofstra and Edinboro, respectively, obtain All-America honors.
The Pride finished seventh in the standings with four All-Americans, while the Fighting Scots were ninth with three All-Americans.
NOTING THE OSU ALL-AMERICANS
J Jaggers (Seventh – 141): Jaggers (21-10) made his first official appearance at nationals after qualifying for the event for consecutive seasons. Last year, the redshirt-freshman missed out on the NCAA championships because of an injury he suffered during the Big Ten championships. Jaggers made his debut at the 2007 NCAA Championships a memorable one, finishing seventh and earning the opportunity to partake in the Parade of All-Americans. Jaggers went 5-2 in the championships, including a 7-1 decision over Harvard’s Max Meltzer in the seventh-place match-up. Lance Palmer (Fourth – 149): As a true freshman Palmer (34-15) had an impressive first outing at nationals, as he advanced to the semifinals of the championship bracket. A No. 10-seed, Palmer started off strong, winning by a major decision (10-2) in his opening bout against John Cox of Navy. From there to the quarterfinals, Palmer did not let up, upsetting seventh-seed Scott Ervin of Appalachian State, 10-3, and beating Indiana’s Matt Coughlin, 2-1, in a match that was decided on Palmer’s 1:51 of riding time. He entered the semifinals against a familiar rival in Michigan’s Josh Churella. Palmer, who had defeated the third-seeded Churella earlier in the dual season, lost a close 5-2 decision to the Wolverine, dropping to the consolation semifinals where he rebounded with a 6-5 tiebreaker win against Tyler Turner of Wisconsin. It would seem Palmer would have his hands full in the third-place match-up against No. 1 Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, but the Buckeye held his own. Schlatter’s riding time advantage was the lone point scored, as he escaped with a 1-0 win.
Mike Pucillo (Sixth – 184): A redshirt-freshman, Pucillo (26-5) won four-consecutive matches after losing his second-round bout to advance to the consolation semifinals against second-seed Roger Kish of Minnesota. Included in the wins were victories over No. 8 Christian Sinnott of Central Michigan, 4-2, and No. 10 Louis Caputo of Harvard, 11-3. His match against Kish had a dramatic finish, as the Gopher won on a last second takedown after Pucillo tied the score at 5-all on a takedown of his own with 20 seconds on the clock.
J.D. Bergman (Fourth – 197): It appeared it was déjà vu all over again for the sixth-seed and two-time All-American (28-9). Reminiscent of his experience at nationals in 2004, Bergman lost his first-round match, only to answer with six-consecutive wins to qualify for the third-place contest. En route to his final match of the championships, Bergman won three of his bouts via a fall, including dropping Nebraska’s and seventh-seed Craig Brester in 3:15. However, Bergman lost his second match of the championships against No. 11 Chris Weidman of Hofstra, 9-4, in his quest for third place.
THIRTY-SOMETHINGS
Lance Palmer and Chris Vondruska registered more than 30 wins on the year. Palmer finished the year with a 34-15 record and Vondruska owned a 30-16 mark.
TWENTY-SOMETHINGS
J.D. Bergman, J Jaggers and Mike Pucillo tallied more than 20 wins this season. Bergman had 28 victories to his credit (nine losses). Jaggers held a 21-10 mark and Pucillo was 26-5.
SETTING THE STANDARD
The 10th-place finish for the Buckeyes under head coach Tom Ryan at the NCAA championships is the best finish for a first-year OSU head coach. Ryan coached four All-Americans to a total of 54.5 points. Previously, the highest NCAA finish for a Buckeye coach in his inaugural season was 20th in 1977. That team was mentored by Chris Ford (1977-86).
OHIO STATE ALL-AMERICANS
With Ohio State’s four All-Americans, the Buckeyes now have a total of 61 All-America selections, while 42 different OSU wrestlers have earned the coveted honor. The Buckeyes have 10 two-time All-Americans, three three-time All-Americans and Tommy Rowlands is the only four-time Buckeye All-American (2001-2004).
FIRST TIMERS
Lance Palmer and Mike Pucillo made their national postseason debut at the 2007 NCAA Championships and came away with All-America honors. Palmer was the first true freshman since teammate J.D. Bergman to obtain All-America laurels. Pucillo is a redshirt-freshman. He spent a season at Hofstra in 2005-06, before joining Tom Ryan at Ohio State this season.
FALLING INTO LINE
J.D. Bergman finished tied for 15th in the nation among Division I wrestlers for the most falls. Bergman collected 13 falls in 2006-07, including three at the NCAA championships in Detroit. Bergman also was just one of four Big Ten Conference wrestlers to make the Top 20 cut.
ANOTHER DAY ON THE JOB
Prior to the 2007 championships, J.D. Bergman had never faced a Big Ten Conference opponent on the national stage until this year and fared well against his familiar foes, going 2-0 in back-to-back matches. In the fifth wrestleback, Bergman avenged his 11-5 loss to Northwestern’s and No. 3 seed Mike Tamillow in the 2007 Big Ten championships by defeating the Wildcat, 5-4. Bergman then followed that performance with another 5-4 win against fourth-seed Phil Davis of Penn State in the consolation semifinals.
HELLO AGAIN
After Lance Palmer and Josh Churella of Michigan met in the semifinals of the Big Ten championships, it should not have been a surprise the two would meet again in the semifinals of the NCAA championships. It is a familiar setting for Palmer and Churella. The two first met this season at the Eastern Michigan Open semifinals Nov. 4, 2006, where Churella recorded a 3-0 win. Palmer answered with a 6-4 overtime victory against the Wolverine in dual meet action Feb. 11 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING
In his first ever meeting against No. 1 seed and nationally No. 1-ranked Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, Lance Palmer held his own, not allowing Schlatter to score a single point during the seven minutes of competition. Schlatter only was able to win based on the accrued riding time.
PART TWO
During J Jaggers’ All-America run at the 2007 nationals, he began and ended the championships with wins against Harvard’s Max Meltzer. Jaggers opened his first NCAA championships with an 11-5 victory and then concluded it with a 7-1 decision to win the seventh-place bout.
THE MORE THE MERRIER
Ohio State’s six qualifiers to the NCAA championships were the most for the Buckeyes since the 2002-03 season. During that campaign, OSU sent seven wrestlers to the national event, including Tommy Rowlands, who now is an OSU assistant coach.
For the first and only time in program history, the Scarlet and Gray advanced all 10 weight classes to nationals in 2001.
NCAA HISTORY
The Buckeyes had their best finish at the national championships in 2004 when they tied for third with 77.5 points.
During its run in 2004, Ohio State sent five Buckeyes to nationals and all five placed in the Top 8. Tommy Rowlands led the contingent, capturing his second national title at heavyweight. As a freshman, J.D. Bergman finished third at 197 pounds. After dropping his first bout, Bergman preceded to win seven-consecutive matches, including recording a pair of falls in the first and second round consolations. John Clark and Blake Kaplan earned fifth-place finishes at 165 and 184 pounds, respectively, and Jeff Ratliff was eighth at 149 pounds.
Ohio State has 11 national champions, most recently two-time NCAA champion Rowlands at heavyweight (2002 and 2004).
A LOOK BACK: 2007 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ohio State concluded the 2007 Big Ten Championships with a ninth-place finish with 68.5 points March 4 at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich. Six Buckeyes in T.J. Enright (133), J Jaggers (141), Lance Palmer (149), Chris Vondruska (165), Mike Pucillo (184) and J.D. Bergman (197) qualified for the 2007 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships March 15-17 in the Palace of Auburn Hill in Auburn Hills, Mich., as Top 7 finishers.
Minnesota finished first with 156 points. Wisconsin was second (99.5) and Iowa (91) rounded out the Top 3.
No. 4 seed Bergman finished second at 197 pounds. The runner-up finish is the second of Bergman’s career. In 2005, Bergman finished second to qualify for his second NCAA championships.
In his first Big Ten championships as a freshman, No. 3 seed Palmer posted a third-place showing at 149 pounds.
Enright, an eighth seed, finished sixth at 133 pounds after taking a medical forfeit in the fifth-place match-up to advance to his second NCAA championships. Enright made his debut at nationals in 2005 as a freshman.
No. 5 seed Vondruska faced Illinois’ Roger Smith-Bergsrud for the second time in the championships in the fifth-place bout and defeated him, 3-0.
The seventh-seeded Jaggers qualified for his second-consecutive NCAA championships when he won his seventh-place bout against Bryan Heller of Penn State, 7-3. Jaggers finished sixth last season at the Big Ten championships, but was unable to compete at nationals because of injury.
Freshman and No. 3 seed Mike Pucillo was forced to medical forfeit his two matches of the day, the consolation semifinals and the fifth-place match-up, to finish sixth.
AND THEN THERE WERE THREE
Lance Palmer became the first freshman to place in the Top 3 of the Big Ten championships for Ohio State since Ryan Hieber (174 pounds) and Tommy Rowlands (HWT) finished second and third, respectively, in 2001.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
For the Buckeyes at the Big Ten championships, it appeared beating the higher seed was contagious for Will Livingston, No. 8 T.J. Enright, No. 5 Chris Vondruska and No. 4 J.D. Bergman. In the second-round wrestleback, Livingston eliminated fourth-seed Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, 10-7, while Enright also knocked out a fourth seed in Zach Tanelli of Wisconsin. Vondruska defeated No. 4 Roger Smith-Bergsrud twice, the first a 2-1 tiebreaker and the second with fifth place on the line, 3-0. Bergman, a fourth-seed himself, met No. 1 Phil Davis of Penn State and handed him a 6-4 loss.
ROUND 3
It was round three for Buckeye T.J. Enright and Spartan Nick Simmons at the Big Ten championships. The two had split their previous two meetings, 1-1. Simmons was able to escape with a 1-0 win in the Michigan State Open Nov. 4, 2006, but Enright got the better of the undefeated Simmons (27-0), 4-2sv, in dual action Feb. 2 in front of the home crowd in St. John Arena. Again it went down to the wire for their third and final meeting of the season, where Simmons won a 2-1 decision in overtime.
DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT
J Jaggers recorded the fastest fall time at the 2007 Big Ten Championships. Jaggers dropped Purdue’s Nick Bertucci in 25 seconds in the second round consolation.
ONLY THE BEST
Ohio State owned one of the toughest schedules in the Big Ten Conference, taking on 10 teams that finished the regular season ranked in the Top 25 of the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA poll (March 7, 2007). Four of the Buckeyes’ opponents ended the regular season in the Top 10 (Missouri-No. 3, Northwestern- No. 5, Iowa-No. 6, Cornell-No. 7).
NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED
Ohio State defeated its third-consecutive ranked opponent after beating then-No. 10 Northwestern, 18-16, Feb. 4 and its fourth overall. Prior to the upset over the Wildcats, the Buckeyes bettered No. 19 Michigan State, 19-14, (Feb. 2), No. 16 Indiana, 19-14, (Jan. 28) and No. 9 Cornell, 18-17, (Nov. 26).
MAKE IT 110
Tom Ryan earned his 110th career victory with the Buckeyes’ 18-17 win over Cornell Nov. 26. Ryan gathered his first win as the head coach of the Scarlet and Gray, while his other 109 wins came at Hofstra, where he was the head coach for 11 seasons. Ryan’s career record is 117-90-1.
BUCKEYES IN THE STANDINGS
In the final edition of the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA Coaches’ Poll (March 7), four Buckeyes ended the regular season ranked in the Top 20. At 149 pounds, Lance Palmer was ninth and at 165 pounds, Chris Vondruska was 19th. Mike Pucillo remained No. 3 at 184 pounds, while classmate J.D. Bergman was sixth at 197 pounds.
CONFERENCE LAURELS
Mike Pucillo and T.J. Enright earned Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors during the regular season. Pucillo was the first OSU honoree (Dec. 4), capturing the award after finishing first in the 184-pound division at the 25th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Dec. 1-2. A redshirt freshman who transferred from Hofstra, Pucillo defeated Top 4 opponents Raymond Jordan of Missouri (No. 4) and Tyrel Todd of Michigan (No. 3) in the semifinal and championship bouts en route to the title.
Enright garnered the laurel Feb. 5 after producing one of the more memorable wins of his collegiate career. Enright (133) began the weekend with a 4-2 sudden victory over No. 1 Nick Simmons of Michigan State in Columbus, Ohio, to help propel the Buckeyes to a 19-14 upset over the No. 10 Spartans. He again was at the center of a dramatic win for OSU, as he defeated Eric Metzler of Northwestern, 7-2, to pull the Scarlet and Gray within one point (16-15) with one match left at 141 pounds. Classmate J Jaggers won a 7-5 decision and the Buckeyes rallied for the 18-16 win over the No. 10 Wildcats in Lakewood, Ohio.
LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL CHAMPION
Redshirt-freshman Mike Pucillo won the 184-weight class at the 25th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Dec. 1-2 in Primm, Nev. Pucillo recorded two major decisions and a fall en route to the semifinal where he defeated No. 4 Raymond Jordan of Missouri, 3-1. In the championship bout against Michigan’s and No. 3 Tyrel Todd, Pucillo notched a 12-6 victory for the title.
Pucillo became the first Buckeye to win a title at the event since assistant coach Tommy Rowlands won in 2003 at heavyweight.
BERGMAN FINISHES SECOND AT SCUFFLE
J.D. Bergman captured a second-place finish at the 2006 Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C., Dec. 29-30, 2006. Bergman, who wrestled at 197 pounds, had an impressive outing on day one of the event, recording two falls and a major decision en route to the quarterfinals. The following day, Bergman notched a decision to advance to the semifinals where he was slated to meet No. 2 seed and nationally No. 2-ranked Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell. However, Rinaldi was forced to take a medical forfeit and that set up a rematch between Bergman and No. 1 seed and top ranked Max Askren of Missouri. After leading 2-1 going into the third period, Askren pinned Bergman in 5:48.
UPSET CITY, BABY!
T.J. Enright was no stranger to upsetting top-ranked wrestlers when he beat No. 1 Nick Simmons of Michigan State, 4-2, in sudden victory Feb. 2. During his freshman campaign in 2004-05, Enright defeated then-No. 4 Sam Hiatt of Northern Illinois in the Michigan State Open (Nov. 21, 2004) and in Big Ten Conference dual action in 2005, he upset then-No. 3 Mack Reiter of Minnesota (Feb. 13, 2005).
Junior J.D. Bergman continued the upset trend during the weekend against Northwestern when he beat second-ranked Mike Tamillow at 197 pounds, 4-2.
Lance Palmer followed those two acts with an impressive win of his own over No. 2 Josh Churella (6-4 2TB) of Michigan Feb. 11.
GOING DOWN TO THE WIRE
For the second time in his OSU career, T.J. Enright produced the winning points for Ohio State in the final bout. With the Buckeyes down, 17-15, against No. 9 Cornell going into the concluding match at 133 pounds, Enright tallied a 5-3 decision over Nick Bridge to give Ohio State the 18-17 victory. It was nearly the same scenario for Enright and the Buckeyes during the 2004-05 season. Enright recorded a 7-2 win over Bloomsburg’s Joe Hassenman to lift the Scarlet and Gray over the Huskies by the same 18-17 margin at the Buckeye Duals in St. John Arena.
Classmate J Jaggers’ 7-5 win over Northwestern’s James Kohlberg in the deciding match at 141 pounds completed Ohio State’s rally for the 18-16 victory over the 10th-ranked Wildcats.
JUST A NUMBER
Redshirt freshman Mike Pucillo (184) faced eight ranked opponents in 2006-07 and compiled a 7-1 record against his Top 20 rivals. Pucillo began the season with a 16-0 record before losing his first match to No. 1 Jake Herbert of Northwestern Feb. 4.
In dual action, seven of J.D. Bergman’s 15 opponents were ranked in the Top 20. He went up against five ranked wrestlers in January and February and overall finished with a 9-3 record in those two months.
CLEVELAND’S CELEBRATED CELEBRITY
Freshman Lance Palmer was a finalist for the 2005-06 Cleveland Outstanding High School Athlete Award, which was presented at the fifth annual Greater Cleveland Sports Awards, created by The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission (GCSC), Jan. 29 at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, Grand Ballroom.
Palmer, who compiled a regular-season record of 26-12 during his freshman campaign, was a four-time Ohio high school national champion from 2003-2006. During his senior year, Palmer helped lead St. Edward High School to its 10th-consecutive team title at the Ohio High School Athletic Association wrestling tournament at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. A two-time Most Valuable Wrestler for the Eagles, Palmer compiled a high school career record of 150-6 and was considered the No. 1 recruit nationally by several wrestling media publications.
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